Photo of the Month: December 2015

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8th December 2015, St Monans, East Neuk, Fife

After checking tide tables and the weather I set off for the East Neuk.  I had planned to photograph on the beach directly below St Monans Parish Church but the tide had already receded from here so I turned my attention to the rocks of Long Shanks further west. I have looked down on these rocks many times from the Fife Coastal Path without giving them a second thought. Today, from the beach, I was looking up at a raggedy skyline.  It was as if I had found a new location. The rocks were cut with deep channels of water being fed by the sea swell even though the tide was receding. As it receded further I was able to move within the rocks to reach a small beach. With the low winter sun providing some dramatic lighting and a storm sweeping over the Firth of Forth, the scene looked very foreboding. They are moments which are too infrequent in my opinion.  I was determined to make the most of it before the storm hit but with the air full of spray the most difficult task was keeping the filters dry using a small reflector as a shield.  Eventually the rain became too heavy and I had to pack everything away and retreat to the harbour but I had enough images on the card to make the trip worthwhile.  

Technical Info: 

Taken with a Fujifilm X-T1

Fujinon XF 14mm f/2.8 R lens

EXIF: ISO-200 / f/11 / 1/10sec

Lee filters:
RAW File converted to TIFF in Fuji RAW converter powered by Silkypix, developed in Adobe PSE9

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Other images from the same afternoon:

Photo of the Month: August 2015

Legoland

25th August 2015, St Monans, East Neuk

After finishing a commission in St Monans I spent the remainder of the afternoon in the East Neuk.  The late-summer sun was too strong and high for landscape photography so I concentrated on the harbours to see if they would yield an opportunity. I didn't have to go too far. This is Virgin Square just along from Mid Shore where I had been working. I have always been drawn to this scene for its angular look.  The architecture is typical of the East Neuk but today there were two other factors which made it stand out. The strong lighting has created deep shadows which has given the scene an almost 3D appearance and the lack of vehicles which are usually parked in a line on the street. My Canon tilt-shift lens was put to good use here.  It is a specialist lens that gives me the ability to keep vertical lines straight as opposed to creating a wigwam effect, where the vertical lines appear to be converging, which happens when a standard lens is used. Very little post processing was done too as I used one of my own Picture Styles created within the camera menu to give me the look I was wanting. 

  
Technical Info:

Taken with a Canon EOS 5D mk II
Canon TS-E 24mm f/3.5L II tilt/shift lens

EXIF: ISO-100 / f/13 / 1/125 sec 
Lee filters: None 
Picture Style applied in camera: Landscape / Sharpening: +4 / Contrast: +3 / Highlight: +2 / Shadow: +1 / Tone: -1 / Saturation: -2

RAW File converted to TIFF in Canon DPP


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Photo of the Month: August 2014

Slipway, St Monans Harbour

 7th August 2014, St Monans, East Neuk, Fife

I generally avoid photographing coastal scenes in the middle of summer when the sun has just past its zenith and beating down on all and sundry.  I had parked in St Monans to visit the Pittenweem Arts Festival just along the coast.  The tide had just started to ebb with the end of the stone slipway still wet which looked good in 'live view'.  To smooth the water I used a 10-stop ND filter and a Polarising filter helped with the glare. A shaded my lens/filters from the sun using a small pop-up reflector.  It sounds complicated but it only took a few minutes to set up.  To get the look I was wanting I used a Photoshop Plug-in called Topaz Adjust to bring out the textures in the stone and add some contrast.

Technical Info:

Taken with a Canon EOS 5D mkII
Zeiss Distagon T* 21/2.8 ZE lens

EXIF: ISO-100 / 30 sec / f/11
Filters: Lee Big Stopper (10-stop ND); B&W Polariser
RAW File converted to TIFF in Canon DPP, developed in AdobePhotoshop CS5 and Topaz Adjust.

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Photo of the Month: May 2014

Pittenweem harbour, East Neuk, Fife

18th May 2014, Pittenweem, East Neuk, Fife

Pittenweem harbour in the East Neuk. It has the largest fleet of commercial fishing boats in Fife as well as a fish market and some of the oldest buildings in the East Neuk.  I have spent many hours here photographing along the quayside.  On this particular evening the inner harbour was like a millpond as the sun was setting on a brooding sky. A graduated neutral density filter added some definition to the sky and the final image was created by stitching together two overlapping frames. 

Technical Info:

Taken with a Canon EOS 5D mkII
Zeiss Distagon T* 21/2.8 ZE lens

EXIF: ISO-100 / 2.5 sec @ f/11  x 2 frames, stitched

Lee filters: 0.6 Soft GND

RAW File converted to TIFF in Canon DPP, developed in Adobe PSE9

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Go Fife: East Neuk Sunset - Valentine's Day

On a weeks' annual leave and with this being Valentine's Day we decided to go to Anstruther for a fish-supper at The Anstruther Fish Bar.  It had been dull all day and driving the 45 or so miles out from Cairneyhill to the East Neuk was no different.  Sometimes we get all 4 seasons in a day, unfortunately today wasn't one of them. I had packed my camera gear more in hope really.  Instead of going directly to Anstruther we stopped off at Pittenweem and parked on the sea front at the far end of the harbour overlooking the Firth of Forth. The sky was getting darker as day turned into night without any form of sunset at all.

Pittenweem is a commercial fishing port, the busiest and liveliest in the East Neuk, and a number of the boats were on their way back into port.  You could see their lights out at sea.  Grabbing my camera pack and tripod I went for a wander around the harbour in the fading light which I always tend to do when I visit.  I ended up on the harbour wall which leads onto the long pier / breakwater which protects the harbours narrow entrance.  Two or three boats chugged passed into the harbour and I was so pre-occupied with watching them that I nearly didn't notice the change going on with the sky.  

The dull dark grey of the oncoming night was breaking up from the west to reveal a sky already full of the colours of the setting sun.  It was as if someone had opened the curtains on the sky and it was completely unexpected.  Straight into action to get my camera onto the tripod.  At least I was in a great spot on the pier at the harbour entrance. The light levels were already pretty low.  I didn't need any filters, just a quick check of ISO and aperture and I was hitting the 2 sec. shutter release.  I spent about 10 minutes at the harbour entrance before moving back along the harbour walls towards The Gyles.

  

Just before 6pm there was another change as the whole sky turned a deep crimson red, as if the sun didn't want to let go. It was just incredible! I don't think I had even seen colour like that.  Walking back to the car the twilight, or ‘gloaming’ light as it is referred to in Scotland, started to fade into darkness.  An hour earlier you would not have believed this was going to happen. Christine was waiting for me in the 'Larachmhor', opposite the harbourmaster's office, when I finally put my camera away.  She had seen it too.  What struck me was that there were very few people about at all.  I had been the only one at the harbour with a camera so I probably had some unique shots.

And then it was on to Anstruther for our tea from the award winning fish bar.  No queue's this time as it was mid-week. The best sunset over Fife between the winter solstice and the vernal equinox.  Quite amazing to witness and all because it was Valentine’s Day and our desire to grab a fish supper in the Neuk instead of going to a local pub for dinner.  

Satellite map of Pittenweem below: